E.ON set out to gain an insight into the UK’s views around energy. It was a simple research project but what we found was not so simple. In fact it raised issues of genuine concern to all of us – as individuals, family members and citizens.

Our children are very worried about the future that they’ll inherit from us.

In fact, it seems as though they’re most worried about having to deal with the issues of climate change that government, business and consumers are only beginning to grapple with.

This first E.ON Changing Energy Report shows that, not only are children most worried about global warming and climate change – almost 10 times as worried as they are about shootings and stabbings – but that they’re also convinced that we won’t be able to solve the problem for them.

So, what do we do to help our children help us solve this problem, and to ensure that we have an energy literate generation who are fully aware of the options available to us – and to them – for the future?

Here at E.ON, we’ve already recognised that we have a responsibility to both take action today and to ensure that our children are able to take necessary decisions as they grow up.

That’s why we’ve put the fight against climate change at the heart of our business. We’re committed to reducing the carbon intensity of our generation – the amount of carbon dioxide we produce for each unit of electricity we generate – by 10% by 2012, having already cut it by 20% since 1990. Our ambitious investment plans will see us spend billions of pounds on onshore and offshore wind farms, and on wave and tidal power. We’re already jointly developing the world’s largest offshore wind farm in the Thames estuary and have started work on a 180MW scheme in the Solway Firth. And we also intend to work on new technologies through our support of the Energy Research Partnership and the Energy Technologies Institute and through our own Technology Centre.

Alongside that, we’ve also launched the Energy Experience, a major new programme for schools to help them teach young people about energy. The   programme helps young people   understand about the different sources of energy we use, the relative merits of each, the options for energy production going forward and what their choices will mean locally, nationally and globally. Young people aged between five and 16 are being given the essential facts and figures. But, more importantly, they are allowed to make virtual decisions about all stages of energy production, distribution and consumption and to see the different effects of those decisions.

And so we turn to the adults – the people who pay the bills. It’s clear that we as consumers want it all – low carbon generation combined with low bills – and it’s equally clear that this simply isn’t possible. It will cost us billions of pounds to lower carbon emissions in the UK and a big part of how we can do that is by getting our customers to use less electricity. We have to take individual responsibility for that. It’s clear from this research that people don’t like personal carbon allowances and much prefer low carbon generation that they can’t see – offshore wind and wave power. But again it’s not that simple.

To win this battle against climate change we as a nation – and we as a planet – have to take responsibility. We actually have to do something about it, whether it is as simple as using low energy light bulbs in our insulated homes while ensuring that our electrical appliances are switched off, or as complicated as fitting microgeneration and building power stations that are cleaner than ever before.

This is not a battle that the power industry can win alone. We need government, other industries and consumers to change the way that they operate or we will leave a legacy of climate change to our children that is too late to put right.